Williams, a Newport News resident and Hampton University graduate, was named Miss Virginia 2013 in July. With that victory she earned a $17,500 scholarship and a spot in the Miss America competition.

For the talent portion of the Miss Virginia contest, which was held in Roanoke, Williams performed "Cubana Cubana" on the piano, according to the Miss Virginia website.

As an undergraduate at HU, Williams was named Miss Hampton University and was featured in Ebony magazine in its annual Top 10 College queens issue.

Williams, 24, graduated from HU in 2011. She continued her studies there, entering the university's physical therapy program.

Her platform issue in the Miss America competition is "Fighting Childhood Obesity: Let's Move!" and her scholastic ambition is to obtain a doctorate in physical therapy eventually working as a physical therapist, according to her bio on the Miss America web site.

Williams plans to play the piano for the talent portion of the pageant.

The Miss America pageant airs Sunday, Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. on ABC. The local affiliate is WVEC-TV 13.

Federal prosecutors are accusing a Hampton man of spearheading a local drug distribution conspiracy in which a customer who thought he had bought heroin died after unwittingly injecting a more potent alternative into his veins.

A Civil War-period coat worn by a nurse — a woman from a prominent Mathews County family who some believe was the only woman to be commissioned as a captain in the Confederate Army — is among the nominees for Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program.